The resistance of Alice
by sheepyc
Summary: Alice is a young muggle born, starting at hogwarts school of witchcraft and wizardry just months after the battle between the wizarding world and lord voldermort. Expecting her new world to be everything she ever wanted, she soon finds herself in the midst of a battle between old ideas and new. She must decide who she can trust and expose those who threaten the safety of hogwarts.


**It was the early hours of the morning and Alice sat alone in her bedroom reading neatly written words from a piece of parchment. Her hand was absent mindedly playing with her hair while her foot tapped to the beat of the music in her ears. At the top of the parchment was a fancy looking shield featuring four animals, a badger, a raven, a snake and a lion. Below the shield, in bold, were the words 'Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry'. The excitement and terror built with every time Alice read and re-read the letter. She could not believe how amazing the information really was, but at the same time, she didn't want to get her hopes up just for it to turn out to be some kind of joke. It would be a pretty elaborate joke if it was. For one, who would train an owl to fly up to her window and hold its leg out in such a perfectly formal way; for some reason it reminded her of the way professionals shook hands on TV dramas.**

She sighed and turned off her desk light. Quietly making her way across the small room to her bed, she decided that she would only really know if this was all real on her birthday the following week. The letter had mentioned that a representative from the Ministry of Magic would be visiting to explain and answer any questions about the magical world. It also said that due to recent events, the letter would be sent out before contact from the Ministry representative. She guessed that this representative would usually come and explain it all with the letter, but it did make her wonder what these recent event were. Alice had read the letter so many times that she had it memorised. She had been looking for as much information about this new world as possible. Reading between the lines she figured out that there was some kind of central government in the magical world called the Ministry of Magic and they seemed to deal with keeping non magical people, the letter referred to them as 'muggles', from finding out about magic.

She pulled the bed covers in tight around her and let her mind wander of into fantastic adventurers where she flew to mystic lands and battled terrifying monsters, always wining the fight just in time and being celebrated by the local villages she saved. She fell asleep softly, not knowing how much more amazing and fascinating her life really would be.

The next morning, Alice woke up close to midday. With heavy eyes, she got out of bed and read her letter again, out of habit more than anything. No new scraps of information jumped out at her, so she pulled the door of her room open and proceeded downstairs to make breakfast.

The rest of Alice's house was vastly different to her room. Where her room was what she would call 'natural', the other rooms were so clean and neat that it was like walking through a show house. "It basically is a show house" she told herself. Her parents only seemed to sleep there, the rest of the time they were busy managing a powerful law firm, spending time with clients or shopping for the latest expensive gadgets and Alice was left alone. She was by no means unloved, but her parents had missed out on most of her life.

She entered the kitchen and pulled out a box of chocolate cereal. As she poured milk into her bowl, a loud low 'Ding Dong' reverberated around the house, causing her splash a little on the kitchen surface. While cursing under her breath and painfully aware that she was still wearing her pyjamas, she sped towards the front door. Rubbing sleep out of her eyes, she opened it to reveal a tall, dark haired boy.

"Hey Chris!" Alice exclaimed as her face lit up.

Chris was a boy who had been in the year above Alice while she was at primary school. He had been one of her best friends and she trusted him completely. Chris disappeared off to a boarding school when Alice started her last year and she'd missed him so much.

"Come in" she continued in an over enthusiastic voice that she was not used to.

Chris smiled weakly at her and walked over the threshold. She noticed, as he did so, that he seemed to be thinner and it looked like there was something missing from his eyes; they didn't have their usual twinkle.

"Are you ok?" Alice asked, frowning at him as she closed the door, "You seem.. different".

He looked down. "Well, School wasn't what I had expected", he paused, then a ghost of his old grin returned and he look back up at her with a wink, "But this year will be better, I'm sure of it." He looked at Alice and took in her PJs. Alice felt her self go red. "I just woke up" she confessed. Chris's smile seemed to get bigger "Still the same alice i see" he winked again "Any idea what school you'll be going to?"

Alice had not been expecting this question. The letter in her room was very clear that she should not show or tell anyone in the muggle world of the existance of magic. She felt her heart drop slightly as she realised this meant she had to lie to him. "I.. I haven't decided yet" she said feebly.

She didn't think this would satisfy Chris, but to her suprise he didn't push the matter. "Oh ok" he replied, "So how have you been anyway? It's been far too long since I've seen anyone I know." His eyes twinkled at her for the first time.

"Aha you know, life has been life." She replied, for some reason she felt nervous. "It wasn't the same with out you here" she continued with a glum look. "But tell me, what's your new school like?".

Chris's expression change so fast Alice almost stepped back in surprise. Apparently he hadn't been expecting a question about school either. It looked like he had died inside. She stared at him. He drew a quivering breath and said, so faintly that Alice move her head closer to hear him, "School was school, as I said, it'll be better next year" he stared at the floor while Alice stared at him. She would usually push for more detail, but he didn't seem to want to say anymore on the subject and she hadn't exactly been forthcoming with her new school. She wasn't sure whether it was good or bad that they now had a secret each.

She decided she would pursue the matter later "Wait in the kitchen, I just need to go get dressed".

Alice shot Chris a furtive look as she left him in the hallway and ran back upstairs.

When she reached her room, she first scooped up the letter and the notes she had written about it and shoved them to the bottom of one of her desk draws. Then she did a quick sweep of the room, picking underware and rubbish up of the floor, before getting dressed. She pulled on a pair of jeans and a light, white top, brushed her hair quickly and ran back down to Chris.

As she entered the kitchen, she found Chris perusing an old newspaper. He looked up and smiled, "So" he said and paused. Alice felt awkward. It had been nearly a year since she had seen him, and obviously he was at as much of a loss for what to say as she was.

"What's been going on while I've been away?" he said eventually.

She went on to tell him everything that had changed at school since she last saw him.

He was as a good a listener as he always had been and their conversation went on for a few hours as they talked and joked around. Neither of them bought up the subject of their new schools again which seemed to relax Chris. Eventually Chris said he should probably get home and Alice walked with him to the door.

"Good bye" Alice smiled at him as he looked back at her.

"I'll see you again next week for your birthday" he winked.

"Er, yeah, that'd be great" she said with no real conviction as he walked away. The ministry representative would be coming that day, what if Chris was there when they arrived? She wasn't even sure how they would be travelling; she had a fleeting image of a man dangling from an owls leg as it sawed towards her and a dumbstruck Chris. "No" she told herself, "we'll just have to see each other quickly, and I can see him after the visit if I can". She wished the letter had given a time for when this person would be coming, it just said on her birthday. She wondered back in to the kitchen and poured away the soggy cereal she had made hours ago. She wasn't hungry anymore, she was nervous. Nervous about what was going to happen on her birthday and even more nervous at how fragile Chris had become over the last year. She wondered what could have happened to him.

She returned to her room and set to reading through the letter a few more times.


End file.
